Elon Musk’s Tesla has been granted a licence to supply electricity to UK households and businesses as the company widens its footprint in the country’s energy system.
Regulator Ofgem said on Thursday it had approved Tesla Energy Ventures as a supplier following a “robust application, assessment and approval process” over the past seven months.
The move threatens to further disrupt Britain’s retail energy sector after a decade of rapid change as challenger companies such as Octopus Energy have taken market share from leading suppliers such as British Gas.
Tesla Energy Ventures joins a new wave of challengers such as Fuse Energy that are trying to capitalise on growing enthusiasm for products such as solar panels and batteries as the UK seeks to move towards lower-carbon energy. Tesla has not applied for a gas supply licence.
The Tesla subsidiary, which has not spoken publicly about its plans, is registered in Manchester and made a loss of £197,282 for the year ending December 2024, its latest available accounts. Its immediate parent company is registered in the Netherlands.
Tesla already has a presence in British homes’ and businesses’ energy supply through sales of its Powerwall battery system for electric cars and solar panels.
Tesla has had a UK electricity generation licence since 2020, allowing its Megapack battery system to discharge electricity into the grid. The company is a top performer in the UK’s market for grid-scale battery storage.
However, critics questioned the granting of an electricity supply licence given Musk’s sometimes controversial political commentary and time working for the US government’s Doge efficiency initiative.
Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, said Tesla should be barred from holding a licence.
“Elon Musk is a threat to our national security and clearly not a fit person to operate in our energy industry,” he said. “We can’t have the lights go out because he’s having a strop on X.”
Best for Britain, a campaign group chaired by Virgin Group chair Peter Norris, has campaigned against the licence being awarded to Tesla.
Naomi Smith, Best for Britain chief executive, said Musk was a “dangerous and malign influence, who belongs nowhere near our critical infrastructure”.
Ofgem said: “Consumers remain firmly in control and people are free to choose whether to buy electricity from TEVL or any other supplier, and to switch or stay at any time.”
Posted by Desperate_Wear_1866
3 Comments
Not entirely sure how to feel about this. The man himself is an annoying edgelord. And yet, the UK’s retail energy market has benefitted tremendously from green startups like Octopus Energy. Tesla could very well help bring down prices for consumers and improve business competitiveness with the right investment incentives.
1890s alternative history headline.
This certainly portends the type of market expansion that could somewhat-kinda justify Tesla’s market value.
Being nervous about Elon getting embedded in a public utility is understandable.
This might be the one time I *don’t* support adding renewables capacity, Musk is dangerously unstable and shouldn’t be let anywhere near essential public services